The Scales Family History

About the Book

Since early childhood Major General “Bob” Scales had always wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps to be a soldier. His story is an Army story. It tells of three generations of service by a family that, beginning with two World War II officers, spawned six decades of service to the Nation. General Scales and his wife, Diana, have lived through twenty nine military moves, a near death experience in Vietnam, seven year’s separation and eleven overseas assignments, to forge a partnership of service very rare in America today. These pages tell in vignette style a piece of military history from early days in the Philippines, through post war Germany, Vietnam and Cold War Europe. Scales’ career from West Point cadet to general officer offers a view of military life unique to a culture increasingly forgotten today.

About the Author

Robert Scales is one of America’s best known and most respected authorities on land warfare. Dr. Scales served over thirty years in the Army, retiring as a Major General. He commanded two units in Vietnam, winning the Silver Star for action during the battles around Dong Ap Bia (Hamburger Hill) during the summer of 1969. Subsequently, he served in command and staff positions in the United States, Germany, and Korea and ended his military career as Commandant of the United States Army War College. In 1995 he created the Army After Next program which was the Army’s first attempt to build a strategic game and operational concept for future land warfare. He is the author of Certain Victory, the official account of the Army in the Gulf War and Firepower in Limited War, a history of the evolution of firepower doctrine. He has written two books on the theory of warfare: Future Warfare, a strategic anthology on America’s wars to come and Yellow Smoke: the Future of Land Warfare for America’s Military. His work, The Iraq War: a Military History, written with Williamson Murray has been reviewed very favorably by the New York Times, Atlantic and Foreign Affairs. His latest work, Scales on War, is a testimony to American close combat units. He is a frequent consultant with the senior leadership of every service in the Department of Defense as well as Congress and many allied militaries. He is senior military analyst for The BBC, National Public Radio and Fox News Network. He has appeared as a commentator on The History Channel., The Discovery Channel, PBS, TLC, Channel 4 (France), NTK (Japan) and Star Television (China). He is a graduate of West Point and earned his PhD in history from Duke University.